Its 2017 and i'm sure most of you use wifi to connect internet. Specially if you are from India then i'm sure you use Jio hotspot to all your devices to connect to internet . Well if you are among those then i have a bad news for you. WPA2 ( Wi-Fi Protected Access II ) is the security protocol we use to secure our internet connections. But recently a researcher Mathy Vanhoef of imec-DistriNet, KU Leuven found a flaw by which he was able to break this security protocol.

public disclosure is tomorrow, but “most or all correct implementations” of WPA2 are affected.

What is the risk ?

You might be asking well thats great that he have found the flaw but how will it affect me ? Well imagine this. You are connect in your home wifi network and chatting with your best friend and your neighbor ( a hacker guy ) looking at conversation. Or may be you are creating an account in your favorite shopping site and your neighbor ( a hacker guy ) see your login credentials. Scary right ?

Details About the attack

The bug, known as "KRACK" for Key Reinstallation Attack, exposes a fundamental flaw in WPA2, a common protocol used in securing most modern wireless networks. Mathy Vanhoef, a computer security academic, who found the flaw, said the weakness lies in the protocol's four-way handshake, which securely allows new devices with a pre-shared password to join the network.

That weakness can, at its worst, allow an attacker to decrypt network traffic from a WPA2-enabled device, hijack connections, and inject content into the traffic stream.

In other words: hackers can eavesdrop on your network traffic.

The bug represents a complete breakdown of the WPA2 protocol, for both personal and enterprise devices -- putting every supported device at risk.

Several researchers, including Vanhoef, have demonstrated valid attacks against the protocol. By far the most notable was in 2011 when a security researcher showed that an attacker could recover the code used in Wi-Fi Protected Setup, a feature that let users authenticate with a one-push button on the router, which could be easily cracked.

FAQ ( Taken from Krackattacks )

Do we now need WPA3?

No, luckily implementations can be patched in a backwards-compatible manner. This means a patched client can still communicate with an unpatched access point, and vice versa. In other words, a patched client or access points sends exactly the same handshake messages as before, and at exactly the same moments in time. However, the security updates will assure a key is only installed once, preventing our attacks. So again, update all your devices once security updates are available.

Should I change my Wi-Fi password?

Changing the password of your Wi-Fi network does not prevent (or mitigate) the attack. So you do not have to update the password of your Wi-Fi network. Instead, you should make sure all your devices are updated, and you should also update the firmware of your router. After updating your router, you can optionally change the Wi-Fi password as an extra precaution.

I'm using WPA2 with only AES. That's also vulnerable?

Yes, that network configuration is also vulnerable. The attack works against both WPA1 and WPA2, against personal and enterprise networks, and against any cipher suite being used (WPA-TKIP, AES-CCMP, and GCMP). So everyone should update their devices to prevent the attack!

Is my device vulnerable?

Probably. Any device that uses Wi-Fi is likely vulnerable. Contact your vendor for more information.

What if there are no security updates for my router?

Our main attack is against the 4-way handshake, and does not exploit access points, but instead targets clients. So it might be that your router does not require security updates. We strongly advise you to contact your vendor for more details. In general though, you can try to mitigate attacks against routers and access points by disabling client functionality (which is for example used in repeater modes) and disabling 802.11r (fast roaming). For ordinary home users, your priority should be updating clients such as laptops and smartphones.

Only truly secure system is one that is powered off, cast in a block of concrete.

Well, This might sound like a Sci-Fi Movie but reading of sensitive e-mails and SMS to stealing of photos, tracking of location , spoofing your phone calls can be done, and you can be the target.

How hackers can take control over your Phone ?

The IMSI Catcher

Before I talk about the IMSI Catcher , I'll introduce you to some buzzwords.

IMSI , International Mobile Subscriber Identity. This is a GSM unique identifier that defines a subscriber in the wireless world, including the country and mobile network to which the subscriber belongs.

ICCID , Integrated Circuit Card ID. This is the identifier of the actual SIM card itself - i.e. an identifier for the SIM chip. It is possible to change the information contained on a SIM (including the IMSI), but the identify of the SIM itself remains the same.

IMEI , International Mobile Equipment Identity and is a unique number given to every single mobile phone, typically found behind the battery.

Simply Put, IMSI catcher is a fake phone base station that tricks cell phones into routing their outbound calls through his device, allowing someone to intercept even encrypted calls in the clear.

The concept is Simple, your mobile phone automatically tries to route its communications through the strongest signal from nearby phone base towers, and the IMSI Catcher satisfies this need by emitting the strongest signal.

What are some other ways how an attacker tries to gain control over your phone?

If you use P2P services, you might have seen 'cracked' premium apps. In that case, I'll have you known 3 random ways that a attacker tries to gain access on your phone.

A 'cracked' version of a premium app.

Fake Ads/Tricking the user to download malicious app

Uninstalling and installing the malicious version of the same app.

Vodafone In India provides M-PESA service for money transfer , But Security Researchers are able to compromise these systems.

So basically, The type of attacks possible here are only limited by the coding ability and creativity of the hacker.

So Do You think you are Secure? What are you using on your phone to keep yourself secure? Let Us know!

Some wild People Say "Hey! I Just Hacked a PC!", Some may just fake it but some may really have done it. So, What Do They Really Mean when the say that? This Article Will Discuss about In How many ways a Hacked PC Can Be Used, And in later articles I'll be explaining about each attack and how it works.

First Of All, a PC can be hacked in many ways, It maybe a PC/Server Whatever. But Once it's compromised, that particular PC becomes the paradise of the attacker. There's a whole lot of harm that an attacker can do to your PC, Yes! Your PC/Mobile That's connected to the internet can be compromised! That's why Always Keep you Antivirus Updated.

A Broad View of All the Attacks Takes me to 8 Categories,

Webserver

BotActivity

Virtual goods

Reputation Hijacking

Financial Credentials

Hostage Attacks

Account Credentials

E-mail Attacks

So, That's the prime 8. Take a look at the infographic that i made for a brief details of each.
In the Further posts, I'll explain how these attacks work with linux machines, because I am not really a very big windows fan. Also Windows Machines are most Vulnerable to these attacks!
So, This post was all about you knowing what kind of threats exists, and the first and a best step a normal PC user can take is update the antivirus software regularly.

if you have any question, don't hesitate to post them in the comment section.